Richard Douglas

Richard Douglas, former senior vice president of Sun-Diamond Growers of California, was found guilty by a federal jury in San Francisco of giving $7,600 in illegal gratuities to former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. The verdict is the latest in a series of legal defeats for Sun-Diamond, the nation's largest fruit and nut cooperative, in independent counsel Donald Smaltz's probe of Espy. In May, Sun-Diamond was fined $1.

Richard Douglas, former senior vice president of Sun-Diamond Growers of California, was found guilty by a federal jury in San Francisco of giving $7,600 in illegal gratuities to former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. The verdict is the latest in a series of legal defeats for Sun-Diamond, the nation's largest fruit and nut cooperative, in independent counsel Donald Smaltz's probe of Espy. In May, Sun-Diamond was fined $1.

As schoolmates at Howard University in the 1970s, Mike Espy and his friend Richard Douglas sometimes sat up deep into the night in their dormitory, drinking beer and fantasizing about a day when they would become powerful figures on the national scene. Two decades later, still close friends, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Espy entered politics and in 1986 became the first African American elected to Congress from Mississippi since Reconstruction.

As schoolmates at Howard University in the 1970s, Mike Espy and his friend Richard Douglas sometimes sat up deep into the night in their dormitory, drinking beer and fantasizing about a day when they would become powerful figures on the national scene. Two decades later, still close friends, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Espy entered politics and in 1986 became the first African American elected to Congress from Mississippi since Reconstruction.

Richard Douglas Cravero, an escaped inmate convicted of murder and drug trafficking, has been placed on the "15 Most Wanted" list of the U.S. Marshals Service, officials said Thursday. Cravero, 44, escaped in September from Union Correctional Institution in Raiford where he was serving three life sentences for murder. Members of his reputed "Dixie Mafia" gang are believed responsible for at least 35 drug-related murders and disappearances.

The Beverly Hills Unified School District has hired two elementary school administrators, according to Supt. Dr. Robert French. Betty Tice, former acting principal and teacher in the San Juan Unified School District in the Sacramento area, has been named assistant principal at Hawthorne Elementary School. Richard Douglas, chairman of the social studies department and a history teacher at Beverly Hills High School, was named assistant principal at El Rodeo Elementary School.

An agreement to develop 59 homes on the demolished Harper School site on Santa Ynez Street won City Council approval this week. The 14.9-acre lot, covered in weeds, exposed utility lines and other unattractive signs of vacancy, has been unoccupied since low student enrollment forced the Fountain Valley School District to close the campus in 1984. Council action permits the district to sell the $7.2-million parcel to developer Kaufman and Broad Coastal Inc., said Larry R.

Powerbroker and Republican strategist James H. Lake pleaded guilty to wire fraud and election law violations Wednesday and pledged to "fully cooperate" with the independent counsel who is investigating former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy's relationships with large agricultural businesses and their lobbyists.

A onetime lobbyist for the proposed developer of a landfill in Elsmere Canyon is under investigation by the FBI as part of the independent counsel's probe of former U.S. agriculture secretary Mike Espy, sources close to the inquiry said Wednesday. As recently as last week, FBI agents have requested documents connected with the Elsmere Canyon project from the U.S. Forest Service, Torrance-based waste hauler BKK Corp. and Rep. Howard P.

When Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy announced his resignation a year ago amid allegations that he had illegally accepted football tickets and other small gifts from agribusinesses, friends and critics wondered aloud how a successful public figure could seemingly risk so much for so little. The predicament of James Lake, a trusted associate of former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush and a high-powered Washington insider, has raised similar questions.

Sun-Diamond Growers, the big California fruit concern, was barred Friday from participating in all federal food purchase programs for the next three years because of its recent criminal convictions for giving illegal gifts to a former Clinton administration Cabinet member. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the ruling, which applies to all government agencies Sun-Diamond deals with.